


How to Solve an Acting Problem Over Coffee

by GrudgeDemon (diedraechin)



Series: Tie Your Heart to Mine [2]
Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: F/M, First Date, Fluffy Romance, they are such dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 03:25:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8605417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diedraechin/pseuds/GrudgeDemon
Summary: How sometimes an absolutely horrible day filled with NGs and where nothing seems to go right can turn into the greatest day ever.  Or "How Ren and Kyoko ended up on their first date." 
Prequel to Your Eyes Close As I Fall Asleep
(Can be read as a stand alone or one-shot)





	

**Author's Note:**

> As promised the First Date story.

“CUT!”

Ren stepped back and plastered a weary smile onto his face.  This… this was not how he thought today’s shooting was going to go.

Kyoko bowed.  “I’m sorry, Tsuruga-san!  I thought you were going to go left so I went right and then you went right, and…”  Pink flushed across her cheeks.

Ren’s first kiss with Kyoko had been a disaster.  As was his second.  And now his third.  Though if he was to take his own lesson to heart, none of these were their first kiss.  “It’s fine.  These things happen.”  First she’d chickened out.  Then he’d leaned in too quickly and they’d bumped foreheads.  Now noses.  He bit back a groan.  He was acting like an inexperienced teenager.  He hadn’t been that since… well, ever.  

Their first kiss had been in Guam, but even that one really didn’t count, either.  It was a stolen kiss and she hadn’t even known it was him.  And it had been months since then.

“Back to start, people!  Let’s get on with this so we can wrap the scene!”  The director called out and everyone moved back to their starting positions.

“And Action!”

Kyoko jogged down the stairs.  She was wearing a flowy skirt, mid-thigh in length and a loose sleeveless top.  It wasn’t far off from what she’d wear usually.  They’d done her hair up with extensions for the role, so she had a curling ponytail that bounced with each step.  “Hiro!  You got here early!”  She skidded to a stop in front of him.

Ren smiled down at her and set his hands on her waist.  “Well, it’s not like I have much more time with you, Sayuri-chan.  You’ll be leaving for Tokyo soon.”

Kyoko blushed and looked down for a moment and then up.  She raised herself onto her tiptoes--

“CUT!”  The director sighed.  “Too innocent, Kyoko-chan.  Hmm.  You’ve dated for a while.  Don’t think about this as your characters’ first kiss. It’s more like their hundredth.  It’s just the first kiss that the audience is seeing.”

Kyoko listened to the director’s comments, nodded and then bowed her apology before running back up the steps.

Ren was a little disappointed.  That had been a really cute face.  He sighed and walked back to his starting place.

***

“CUT!  Ren-san, I know you’re trying to lighten the mood, but don’t waste a take kissing Kyoko-chan on the cheek!”

***

“CUT!”

“Oh no!  Is your lip bleeding?”

Ren shook his head.

***

His lips met hers with a gentle press and--

“CUT!  Much too timid.”  The director sighed.

***

“CUT!  Kyoko-chan, you’re blushing again!”

Ren had actually thought that one had been sort of OK.  They weren’t bumping noses anymore, and had actually managed to get their lips where they needed to go.

Obviously, his standards were beginning to slip.  He held up a hand to signal that he needed a break.

“Yeah, not a bad idea.  Everyone take a few minutes.”

Ren walked off the set and sat down and put his head in his hand.  If Kyoko even tried to apologise to him again, he might lose his temper.  He was just as much, if not more, to blame for this fiasco.  He was the veteran actor, he should be able to handle this.  It was just a stupid hello kiss between their characters who were supposed to be in an established relationship.

“Today has been painful to watch.”  Yashiro sat down next to him.

“Today has been painful to live,” he groaned.

Yashiro patted him on the back.  “But look on the bright side, you’ve had seven kisses with Kyoko-chan now.”

“Seven?  Seven takes?”  He’d never bothered counting.

“Eleven actually.  I didn’t count the ones that backfired, but kept the kiss on the cheek.  So maybe it’s six kisses.”

Ren rubbed his forehead.  “What am I doing?”

Yashiro took a deep breath.  “Getting caught up in here.”  He pointed at Ren’s chest.  “Not that I blame you, really.  You’ve only been in love with that girl for how long?”  His manager turned away from him.  “She doesn’t look too happy either.”

“What is she doing?”  He couldn’t bring himself to look toward Kyoko.

“She’s on the phone and waving her arm about.  I think she’s talking to Kotonami-san.  I think I vaguely heard a very loud ‘MOKO-SAN!’ right after the director called for a break.”

Ren smiled, barely.  “Well, at least I know that she still has someone she can talk to about her acting dilemmas, even when those acting dilemmas are with me.”  He sighed.  “I just want today to be over with.  Go home, drink too much whisky and fall into bed wondering just where my life has gone wrong.”

Yashiro chuckled.  “The only way to make that sound even more pathetic is if you added watching some of Kyoko’s other dramas to the list.”

Ren looked away.

“You poor, pathetic, lovelorn man.”

“I know.”  Ren only looked up when the director came back.

“All right.  We’ll give this scene three more takes and if we can’t get it, we’ll call it for the day and we’ll pick it up in the morning.”

Ren stood up and took a deep breath.  He had three takes to salvage this situation.

***

Kyoko swallowed and walked back up the stairs.   _Don’t blush.  Don’t blush.  Don’t blush.  You’re Sayuri.  Sa. Yu. Ri.  Not Kyoko.  Sayuri doesn’t think anything of being kissed by Ren.  No, Hiro.  Hi. Ro._  She sighed.  She just couldn’t get Sayuri’s spirit to stay inside today, but then Sayuri was one of the weakest characters she’d had.  She was just a girl in her last year of school, heading off to university.  She was only in two episodes of the drama as it was.  It was why this scene was so important.  They had to set up the relationship that was going to hamper Ren’s… Hiro’s relationship with the main female lead, Sayuri’s older sister.

She turned and put her hand on the banister and waited for the director to call action.  Ren. _HIRO, brain, just refer to him as Hiro, it’ll make things easier._  But her brain wasn’t cooperating.  Ren walked into the room and looked up the stairs at her and smiled gently.  And for the twelfth time that day, Kyoko’s breath caught.

Why did she have to be in love with him?  This would be so much simpler if she wasn’t in love with him.

She smiled back and took the first step down.  “Hiro!  You got here early!”

Kyoko skidded to a halt in front of Ren and looked up with a smile.  

“Well, it’s not like I have much more time with you, Sayuri-chan.  You’ll be leaving for Tokyo soon.”  He leaned in quickly and pressed his fingers to her cheek and kissed her.  He changed the blocking, but at least they kissed.  But she hadn’t had any time to go up on her toes or prepare herself to react.  Instead, she was pretty sure she looked shocked.

“CUT!  Ren-san, don’t change the blocking.  I know it’s been a long day, but taking Kyoko-chan by surprise by changing the blocking without warning…”

Ren gave a small bow.  “I’m sorry.”  He looked at Kyoko and sighed.  “Sorry.”

She waved her hand in a little “no”.  “It’s all right.  I just wasn’t expecting it.  If that’s how you want to try it, I’ll be prepared next time.”  She turned and went up the stairs, pausing halfway up to take a deep breath.   _Actor’s Rule of the Heart.  Actor’s Rule of the Heart.  Don’t forget, Kyoko._

***

“CUT!  That isn’t working at all.  Go back to the previous blocking.  The height difference is making everything look unbalanced.”

***

“CUT!  Tomorrow.  We’ll try again tomorrow.  That was just… bad.”

Kyoko sighed.  She’d known it the moment their lips met.  It was dead.  As if any chemistry they’d had at the beginning of the shoot had been sucked up into the land of NGs.  She swallowed.  “I really am very sorry, Tsuruga-san.”

He shook his head and smiled at her.  It was a weak smile, but not angry.  “It’s been a long, unexpectedly difficult day.”

The director came up to them.  “One of the reasons that I cast Kyoko-chan in this drama is that I’ve heard that the two of you are friends, and in the other scenes that I have filmed, that really does come across.  There’s a great sort of friendly chemistry there, but romantically, you two are a complete mismatch.”  He paused. Kyoko’s heart plummeted.  “However, that works for me.  Having the characters slide into a friendship off screen was what I was going for all along.  But we need to get this scene done, and we can’t keep wasting time.  I’m going to sit down with one of the writers tonight and see if I can figure out a way around the height issue.  Maybe change the blocking so that the kiss is not as obvious, so we can get away with fudging the scene a little.  Maybe even get the two of you out of kissing altogether.”  He patted Ren on the back.  “It’ll work out.”

Kyoko picked her heart up off the floor and shoved it back into the hole where it was supposed to be.  Metaphorically, of course.  The director calling them a complete mismatch romantically just bounced around in her head.  He was right, of course.  Ren was so far above her that even thinking that they could ever be romantic together was ridiculous.  It would never happen.  Not in a million years.  She sighed.

“Mogami-san?”

She looked up.  “Oh, sorry.  I guess…” She was just going to say it.  It’s not like he would understand how much it hurt or why.  Not really.  “I guess I’m just a little disappointed to hear that we can’t play a romantic relationship with each other.  I’ve always hoped that one day I’d be able to star across from you in a drama or a movie, but if we don’t have that sort of chemistry, it will never happen.  Not even for a suspense or action film.”

He smiled a bit sadly and reached out, patting her on the head.  She laughed, just a little.  It was a comforting gesture that always put her right into her place.  His friend.  Because they were friends.  They didn’t go around defining each other as that but everyone else seemed to, and well, it was better than nothing and a step up from just being his kouhai.

“I think we can salvage this.”

“We can?”

Ren nodded.  “I think so.”  He sighed.  “Let’s get a cup of coffee tonight and see if we can figure something out ourselves.”  He took his phone out of his pocket.  “It’s a little after three now and I have an interview at four, but I’ll be finished with that by six.  There’s a small coffee shop on Sumire Ave.  Should we meet there at six thirty?”

Kyoko took out her little planner and looked down.  “I should be able to do that.”  

“Does your new manager have something planned for you?”

She shook her head.  Having a manager was strange.  Even if it was a manager that she was sharing with Kanae.  Aya-chan was nothing like Yashiro-san at all.  “No, I was going to meet my friend, Amamiya-san, for some shopping.”

When Ren smiled at her this time, it was a real smile.  “That sounds enjoyable.”

Kyoko nodded.  “I’ve been really looking forward to it all week!”  She took a deep breath.  “I should go and get out of costume.  Good luck with your interview, Tsuruga-san.”

***

Ren watched her go.  She looked lighter than she had when the director was talking to them.  He really wanted to throttle the man.  Kyoko was still such a young actress and would take his words to heart, and she had.  He was surprised that she actually admitted it.  

And disappointed that she was only sad because it would limit their chances to act together.

But… if she wanted to act with him… He shook his head.   _Don’t start reading into things.  That way lies disaster, you know this._

Yashiro walked up to him.  “Are you ready to go?”

He nodded.  “I need to go straight home after the interview though.  And if I can cut it a little short, that would be great.”

“Short?”

“I made plans to get a cup of coffee with Mogami-san so we can try to brainstorm our own solution to this dilemma.  I need to get my car.”

“You have a date with Kyoko-chan?”  Yashiro was all smiles.  

Ren sighed.  “It’s not a date.  Just… she looked upset by what the director was saying, and I wanted to cheer her up.  It’s not like we’ve never gone for coffee before.”

“Are you meeting for coffee at LA Hearts?”

Ren shook his head.  “No, I suggested the little coffee shop that we found on Sumire.”

Another smile from his manager.  “Then it’s a da-aate.”

“If everything you declared was a date was actually a date, Mogami-san and I would be on number fifty.”

***

Kyoko dropped the bag from her shopping trip and dove into her little closet.  Where was it? Where was it?  With a triumphant sound she came out holding the dark maroon floral top she’d bought a couple of months ago.  She’d been saving it to go on auditions in, but this was a better use for it.

Even if it wasn’t a date and they would just be working, Kyoko still wanted to look cute.  She pulled the top on.  It was nice and flowy and definitely cute.  The sleeves started to trumpet out at her elbows, so it was even a little princessy without being too princessy.  She did a little spin.  This would do.  She took Princess Rosa out of her bedchamber and clasped it around her neck.  The light pink of the stone was perfect with the darker top.

She looked over at her two piles of makeup.  There was her everyday makeup and her special occasion, formerly Natsu, makeup.  She was starting to run out of the latter, but well, coffee with Tsuruga-san wasn’t an everyday occurrence, so she sat down and did her makeup properly.

She smiled in the little mirror she had on her table.  Worth it.

***

Yashiro had made it so the interview ended a whole thirty minutes earlier than planned and got Ren back to his apartment in record time. Ren said goodbye to his manager outside of the building and went in, turning toward the garage and his car.

He had a few minutes though.  He went to the elevators instead.

He dropped his satchel by the door and went to his closet, tossing his jacket on the bed, pulling his T-shirt over his head and tossing it into the hamper.  It wouldn’t hurt to change shirts at least. He could always just say he’d done it for the interview if she asked.  Besides, the temperature started to drop in the evening, and he’d rather wear a slightly longer thigh length coat instead of a jacket, and those always looked better with a button up shirt.  He pulled out a black one and pulled it on, grabbing a pair of cufflinks from where he kept them on a shelf and sliding them into the holes.  He grabbed the longer dark olive light wool coat from his closet and headed out the door.

But this was a work coffee.  He paused before he closed the door and reached into his satchel for his script.  Good enough.

He fixed his hair in the rearview mirror of his Porsche before pulling out of his spot in the garage.

***

Kyoko handed the yen coins over to the girl working behind the counter, took the second karaage wrap from her, and turned toward the coffee shop.  She still had five minutes to get there and it was only a two-minute walk.  Three minutes early wouldn’t be bad.  As long as she wasn’t late.

She walked up to the shop just as Ren did and laughed.

“Looks like we’re both exactly three minutes early.”  He smiled at her.  “What’s that?”

“I saw a crowd at this bento shop and they were selling karaage wraps, and they smelled so good, I couldn’t resist.  Then I realised that you probably wouldn’t have eaten dinner so I grabbed one for you as well.”  She held one out to him.  “Had you?  Eaten dinner?”

He took the cone of karaage from her.  “I doubt I even need to answer that question.  Even if I said that I did, you’d just say that I was lying.”

She took a bite of her wrap and couldn’t help the little “Mmmm” that slipped out.  “It’s really good.”  She laughed nervously.  “And you would be lying.  You told me your schedule and it didn’t include dinner.”

Ren took a large bite.  “Hot!”  He swallowed.  “But, yeah, it’s good.  Not that I would expect you to spend money on something that wasn’t.”  He paused.  “How much was it?”

“No, no.  Please.  It wasn’t expensive at all, and I would have felt bad getting one for myself and not for you too.  I wasn’t even sure that you’d want it.  I can’t accept your money for something that I did out of my own selfish desires.  I just couldn’t.”

He nodded.  “All right, but I’ll feel bad anyway, so you’ll at least have to let me get your coffee for you.”

She didn’t answer immediately and quickly took another bite of her karaage wrap to cover her indecision about letting him pay for a cup of coffee.  He offered about every third cup to pay, but she always refused even if he was paying for Yashiro’s.  After all, they were work coffees.  But she had gotten him the karaage wrap even when he hadn’t asked.  And she didn’t think that he’d particularly like it if she paid for both his wrap and her own coffee.  She had upset him enough at the shoot with having to redo that scene so many times.  

She swallowed after chewing for what felt like forever.  “All right.”

And was immediately rewarded with one of his beautiful angelic smiles.  Her heart fluttered in her chest and for a second she had trouble breathing.  It was so worth letting him pay just this once.

***

Ren wondered if Kyoko realised that she was making pleased little sounds with every bite of that karaage wrap she ate.  It was terribly distracting.  Everything about her was terribly distracting.

He took another bite of his own wrap as he watched her.  The way her eyes closed as she took a bite, and the pleased look she’d get as the sauce burst across her tongue because if it was bursting across his, it had to be across hers.  And the way her tongue would dart out to save the bit of sauce that was trying to escape from the corner of her mouth.

He swallowed before he should have and choked a little.  Her eyes went wide and she stepped closer. The pleasant scent of her perfume wafted over to him.  It was a little less floral than her usual one, as if a bit of sandalwood and spice was mixed in with the rose.

“Sorry, I bit off more than I could chew it seems.”  Literally and figuratively.

She popped the last bit of her dinner into her mouth and then sucked on her finger for a second, no doubt licking up any traces of sauce that had dripped onto them.  He found himself wondering, not for the first time, what her skin would taste like.

“What did you go shopping for?”  He needed to get her talking, otherwise he’d just stare at her for the rest of the night.  He took the opportunity to finish off his own wrap.

“Oh, we just went to the shopping center and mostly people watched.  Amamiya-san has an… interesting outlook when it comes to people watching.  But then we got attacked by this woman selling perfume.  She made Amamiya-san try all sorts, but I got away with just one.  I think I like it though.”  She held out her wrist.  “What do you think?”

Oh, he already knew that he liked it, but he used the opportunity to lean down and sniff her wrist anyway.  He opened his eyes after drawing in her scent and looked at her.  They were eye level for once.  “It’s very, you, I think, Mogami-san.”

He watched her eyes dilate and could hear her breath catch.  He was probably standing too close and he stepped back.  “Should we go in and get our coffee and figure out what to do?”  Better to get back to safer ground.

***

For a moment the Emperor of the Night had come back and was staring at her.  She hadn’t really thought anything of letting him smell the perfume that she’d tried at the store, but she really hadn’t expected that sort of reaction.  Or the little thrilled shiver it sent down her spine.  She wanted to make him look at her like that again, but at the same time she was relieved when he stepped back and his face returned to his normal gentle smile as he held the door of the coffee shop open for her.  She walked in and followed him to a free table in the back.  He took off his coat and flung it over the back of his chair before sitting down.

He’d looked really good in the olive wool coat he’d been wearing, but the black shirt was better.  As usual, he didn’t wear a tie and had the first couple of buttons undone.  His pendant on its chain stopping just before the first closed button of his shirt.

“Do you want your usual?  I’m pretty sure they’ll make it here.”

Kyoko nodded.  She spotted the sugar on the table and pulled it over to her side.  It gave her hands something to do.

For the first time ever in all the times she’d been in this man’s company, they actually had a male waiter.  She was a bit relieved.  She never really liked the way that the waitresses looked at Ren.  It always caused that same uncomfortable feeling that she’d get when she saw Sho kissing a girl.  Or when Manaka on the _Tragic Marker_ set kept hanging off of Cain.  The feeling she’d have to hide behind a smile.  The one she didn’t like giving a name to, even though she knew very well what it was.  Jealousy.

“A latte macchiato for my companion and a plain black coffee for me.”

“No problem.  Anything else, miss?”

Kyoko took a deep breath.

“Mogami-san?”

She started.  She’d been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t realised.  “Uh, no, I’m fine with just the latte, thank you.”

Ren smiled at the waiter and he left the table.

***

Why is it that whenever he felt like he had Kyoko all to himself, someone just had to come and burst his little fantasy?  This time it was in the form of a waiter whose gaze lingered a bit too long and a bit too appreciatively on the girl sitting across from him.  The girl who had a slight blush across her cheeks, making her even more desirable.

He frowned a little, but neither person seemed to notice.  Kyoko wasn’t really paying attention to what the waiter said, and that did make him feel a little better, so he called her name and she came out of whatever daydream she’d been having that caused that blush.

He wished he’d known what it was.  If he had a starring role.  He mentally shook himself.  That way led to disaster and doom.  He needed to get back on track.  Get the evening back on track, because he’d almost convinced himself that Yashiro was right and that this was a date.

It wasn’t.  Even if she was letting him pay for her coffee.

“Mogami-san, you’ve had other stage kisses, haven’t you?”

Her blush deepened instead of disappearing, and he almost sighed.  How was he supposed to talk about kissing in an analytic way when she was looking oh-so-very kissable?

She nodded.  “Only a couple.  And one during acting classes.”

“All right, that’s what I thought.  Can you tell me about them?”  He rushed on as her eyes got wider and the blush started spreading.  “Like the people, not the kisses.  Height, things like that?”

“Oh!  Yes.”  She paused to think.  “None of them were nearly as tall as you.  I think my tallest partner had about half of the height difference that we do.”

He nodded.  “It’s the problem I run into most often when I’m acting these sorts of scenes.”  He sighed.  It wasn’t a lie, but the height difference wasn’t the problem at all.  The blocking would work just fine if he could pull himself together, but he didn’t think he’d be able to, so he was just killing time and hoping that some sort of idea would come to him.

“I thought that the blocking we have would work quite well.”  She paused and looked down.  “In fact, I think the last kiss would have worked if it hadn’t been so…”

He never got to find out what she was going to say. Not that he needed to, because he probably had the same opinion of it:  awful.  The waiter arrived with their coffees and set them in front of them, then put a small piece of cake in front of Kyoko.  “We had some cake that we needed to get rid of before the end of the night, and I’d hate for it to go to waste since it’s really good.  It’s on the house.”  He walked away.

Ren shook his head.

“That was awfully nice of them.”  Kyoko took a bite and smiled.

Even if he got to reap the rewards of seeing her happily eat a piece of cake, he was still annoyed that the waiter had given it to her when he’d been sitting right there.  Even if they weren’t on a date, it should at least look like they were.

He closed his eyes for a second.  He was really losing it.

“Here.  I know you don’t really like sweets, but try it.”

He opened his eyes.  Kyoko was holding a forkful of cake out to him.  He opened his mouth and leaned forward, wrapping his lips around the fork she’d used just seconds before, pulling the vanilla and cream and berry cake off the fork and into his mouth.

***

She knew offering him a bite of cake would probably bring the Emperor of the Night back out, and she hadn’t been wrong.  She took a deep breath and watched as he sucked the cream off his lip.

It really didn’t help that she knew how those lips felt against her own.

She caught herself looking at his lips and quickly looked back into his face.

Bad idea.  He was smiling that angelic smile.

***

She blushed as she fed him cake.  He didn’t even bother scolding himself for going down the path of hope for a minute.

A one-minute fantasy couldn’t hurt.  Right?

***

“Kyoko no koto ga suki.”

She choked on her cake.

***

What the hell had he just done?  He picked his hot, oh so very hot, coffee up and started drinking it and didn’t stop until it was empty, not caring if he burnt his tongue.  And even then he didn’t put the cup down.  Idiot, idiot, idiot.  This is why even one-minute fantasies were BAD and OFF LIMITS.

He put the cup down and put his forehead in his hand.  He couldn’t look at Kyoko.  Was just waiting for her to throw her coffee in his face or something.

After all, hadn’t she told Sawara-san that love is a prelude to disaster and despair?

***

Kyoko was pretty sure that she wasn’t breathing.  Maybe when she choked on the cake, she had died.  Wait, no, that wouldn’t make sense because she choked after he’d said _that thing_.  Did her brain short circuit because of his smile?  She thought that she was getting better at dealing with that smile of his.  She no longer flinched like it burned, but it still took her breath away.

But she’d never imagined a confession going along with it.

Which could only mean… but no.

But he had used her name.

But no.

She looked at him.  He had his head in his hand and a faint blush on across his cheeks.  Like he’d had when he told Bo that he’d never been in love before.

Which meant he was embarrassed.  He hadn’t meant to say that.  All right.  She could do this.

Kyoko took a deep breath.

“Tsuruga-san?”

He looked up at her.

“It’s all right, I understand that you didn’t mean to say that to me.  I won’t tell anyone.”

He frowned.

Was she wrong?  “Did you mean to confess to me?”

He shook his head.

***

She looked so confused.  “Did you mean to confess to me?”

He shook his head.  “No, but I wanted to.  I’m sorry, I know that you can’t accept.  So, I haven’t.  I wasn’t planning…”  He sighed and put his head back in his hand.  “You looked really cute blushing.”

***

She blushed again.  OK, that one she definitely heard.  Things had suddenly gotten more awkward than they’d been during filming that day.  She sighed.

If he really had confessed, she either needed to accept it or not.  She just never thought she’d ever be confessed to.  And certainly not by this man.

And if he hadn’t meant to, well, they could both be embarrassed and maybe just move on from here.

“Tsuruga-san ga daisuki.”

***

His head snapped up at the quiet whisper.  Kyoko wasn’t looking at him.  Her hands were wrapped around her latte and her cheeks were flushed bright with color.  “Unless you really didn’t mean to in which case can we go back outside and start this whole coffee endeavor all over?”

He smiled and laughed a little.

This was the most imperfect way of telling her ever and yet somehow, it had worked.  The back of a quiet coffee shop in a half dead shopping district after eating karaage and being fed cake.  He’d scalded his tongue, embarrassed himself beyond belief, and yet…

He reached out and touched her hand with his.

She looked up at him.  She looked a little frightened and skittish.

“If you want to leave, we’ll leave. Otherwise, why don’t you finish your coffee? I’ll go and get another for myself.”

He pushed away from the table and went over to the counter.  “Can I get another black coffee, please, and I’d like to settle our bill.  I’ll pay for the cake.  It was really good.”  He almost wanted to thank the waiter for bringing it over.  

“Hey, aren’t you--”

He nodded.  “Yes, but please don’t attract attention.  My companion and I are practicing for a drama that we’re currently working on together.”  He handed over more than what the total was for two coffees, a latte and a slice of cake.

“Oh!  That makes so much sense.  I thought I’d seen her in something, but I wasn’t sure.”

As much as he’d like to announce to the world that the girl he loved liked him back, right now was not the time.  Especially because he didn’t really believe it himself.

He took the new cup of coffee and went back to the table, purposefully pulling out the script from his coat.

Kyoko looked at him and he gestured to the curious owner and waiter that had been serving them.  She leaned over and pulled her own script out of her bag, opening it to a random page.

“I don’t know what’s supposed to happen next.”  She was still blushing.

He shook his head.  “Neither do I.”

“Surely you’ve dated.”  She bit her lip.  “Or maybe you haven’t.”  Her brow was furrowed.  It was rather cute.

“I have.  I’ve dated.  But I’ve never dated someone that I was scared to lose before.”

“You’re scared to lose me?”  She looked up at him, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted in surprise.

He didn’t care.  He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers ever so briefly.  He was already leaning back in his chair when her eyes fluttered open.

***

She didn’t think she’d ever seen Ren’s face so very unguarded, but she was also very aware of the people who had started to watch them once they’d realised they had _the_ Tsuruga Ren in their little coffee shop.

“I think we should go.”

He looked at her.  “Are you sure?”

She nodded and raised her voice a little.  “I’m one hundred percent sure that I can do the scene tomorrow without disappointing you now.  I’m lucky to have such a kind senpai.”

His face fell, and he stood up with a sigh and grabbed his coat, pulling it on and stuffing his script back in the inside pocket.

She gathered her things up as well and started toward the door, pulling on her jacket as she went.  “Thank you very much,” she said to the proprietor.  “It is very difficult to find places to practice scenes that are out of the way.”

“Of course.  Come back anytime.”  He seemed disappointed for them to leave.

Ren held the door open for her and she walked through.  He still wasn’t saying anything and Kyoko was pretty sure that he’d completely missed what she was trying to do.

“Can we… can we go somewhere?”

He looked over at her.  “Go somewhere?”  They were walking down the street toward the exit of the shopping district toward where she assumed that Ren had parked.

“Somewhere quiet without nosy proprietors and waiters.”  She looked over at him as he looked down at her.  She smiled.

She saw the moment he’d put everything together.  

***

He felt like he’d been on the wildest roller coaster of his life tonight.  Up and down and spinning, and there was probably even a loop or three in quick succession.

So where did two people who didn’t want to be recognized go that wasn’t his apartment?  Because that was private, but it was just too private.  Now.  Yesterday it would have been fine.  But now it wasn’t, and his heart leaped.

They walked past a little shop that looked like it was selling accessories and he tilted his head toward it.  It was sort of like when they’d been Cain and Setsu on their date, but without the hand holding.  He found a cute slouchy knit hat and put it on Kyoko’s head.  It was a deep burgundy, almost like the top she had on under her jacket.  

“No Fenrir?”

He chuckled.  “Not this time.  And let’s avoid the three headed dog of hell even if you find it.”

“I get to pick?”

He nodded.  “Seems fair.  But I think a scarf.”  He pulled a black knit cap off a rack.  Usually he’d go with something with a brim, but he had enough of those really.  And a brim could get in the way.

Kyoko held out a scarf that was striped long ways in greens, browns and greys and he leaned forward and let her wrap it around his neck.  He adjusted it and pulled it up a bit in front.  “Well?”

She smiled.  “It’s much more fitting for _you_ than a cerebus one would be which was more _him_.”

“All right then.”  He tugged the tags off the three items and handed them over to the older woman who was working behind the register.  From the corner of his eye he saw Kyoko reach into her bag and he put a hand over hers.  “Later.  Pay me back, later.”  He knew better than to say he would buy it for her.  And if she forgot to pay him back, well, he wouldn’t say anything about it, but the likelihood of that was incredibly slim.

They left the establishment and headed to his car.  “If you just want to drop your bag, I know a place.  It’ll be a little crowded which is better than quiet; it’s easy to be overlooked, is nearby and is quite pretty,”

Kyoko smiled and put her bag in the car, waiting while he locked it all up again. And then they walked.  There were more people as they entered the park, and when they reached the fountain that was his desired destination, the crowd was thick, but not thick enough for it to be uncomfortable.

He looked over at Kyoko.  She was smiling and looking at the multicolored lights of the fountain.

He moved right up against her so she could hear him over the din of the water and people.  “I come here sometimes.  Usually a little later in the evenings.  I’ve never been found out.”

She tilted her head back so she could look at him.  “You’re right, it is pretty.”

He wanted to use a cheesy line and say that she was the one that was pretty, but held back. It wouldn’t do for her to learn just how pathetic he could be all at once, and he’d already embarrassed himself enough for one evening.

Kyoko took a deep breath.  Her arm was pressed against his.  “So, is this kind of like a date now?”

He entwined his fingers with hers.  “Not kind of.  It is.”

She blushed again.

***

She heard his breath shudder and looked up at him.  He didn’t really have a look on his face, but she had a feeling that he was happy.  She could just feel it.  She smiled.  “I’ve never been on a date before.  So far, I think I like it.”

He nodded and they walked around the fountain, hand in hand.

She was nervous. Her whole body seemed to be thrumming with nervous energy.  She felt like she should run away before everything changed.  But then she felt like she should cling to him so that this feeling would never end.

“I feel like this is the end and the beginning at the same time.”

Her breath caught.  “Yes.  I was just thinking that.  Like everything is just balanced on a precipice, waiting to go over, and I don’t know if I want it to or not.”

He nodded.  They’d come to an area that didn’t have as much light. Things were in shadow because of the trees that were lining a path that went further into the park.  He tugged on her hand a little until they were standing next to one of the trees.

She turned to face him and he dropped her hand.  She missed the point of contact immediately, but he put his hands on her waist and looked down at her.  Maybe it was all the repetition earlier in the day, but she immediately went up on tiptoe and let her eyes close as he leaned down.

His lips pressed against hers softly and she parted her lips.  He sucked on her bottom lip and she could feel the tip of his tongue just barely brushing it.  Her arms went up around his neck and his slipped around her in a loose embrace.

Then the kiss turned into something that was nothing like the one they were supposed to act out.

She opened her mouth a little wider to draw in a breath, mimicking his earlier action with her tongue on his lip, and then dared to just fleetingly meet his with hers.  His arms tightened around her, his hand sliding up her back. He pressed her close as he swept his tongue past her lips and into her mouth, and it was the most amazing thing ever.

This is what a kiss was supposed to be.

When he pulled away, she was breathless.

His fingers brushed across her cheek, and his eyes were oh-so-gently looking at her.

“Tsuruga-san.”

He shook his head.  “Please don’t call me that.  Not after…”

She licked her lips.  “Ren-san?”

He made a face.  “Can you drop the ‘san’? I really don’t like it.  I just really don’t like hearing it.  It’s why you hear so many people call me just Ren.”

“So you want me to call you Ren?”

It was dark, but it was like the entire area lit up because she got one of his smiles again.  “I’ve wanted you to call me Ren for a long time,” he paused and sighed.  “Kyoko-chan?”  His voice had suddenly become tentative, like he was waiting for her to sharply refuse him the use of her first name.

“You called me just Kyoko when you confessed, why are you backtracking?”

Both hands came up to cup her cheeks.  “Kyoko.”  The way he said her name, like it was the most delicate piece of precious crystal in the world, made her heart leap and do backflips and she thought she just might die right there.

And then he bent down and kissed her again, soft and deep and gently as if _she_ was the thing that was made out of the most precious crystal.

“Kyoko ga daisuki.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead and she wrapped her arms around him.

***

“All right, let’s try this again.  Don’t forget to stop on the last step, Kyoko-chan.  Which means that your blocking has changed as well, Ren-san.  Go all the way to the very foot of the stairs.  We’re moving the camera, but not too much, so all we need is something a little better than yesterday and the camera angle will hide the rest.”

Kyoko nodded, and then he nodded as well.

The change to the blocking and the camera angle were completely unnecessary, but even after Ren had told the director that this morning when he’d come in, he just wanted to move on.  He understood that Ren was a good actor, but sometimes there are just people who he wouldn’t have chemistry with and that wasn’t a problem.

It was fine.  He knew just how much chemistry he had with Kyoko.  He looked up at where she was standing at the top of the stairs.  Her outfit last night was much cuter than the one she was currently wearing for the scene.

He took his place.

“Action!”

Kyoko jogged down the stairs toward him.  “Hiro!  You got here early!”  She stopped on the bottom step as the director had instructed -- not that she could have gone any further, since Ren was blocking her path.

Ren smiled down at her and set his hands on her waist.  “Well, it’s not like I have much more time with you, Sayuri-chan.  You’ll be leaving for Tokyo soon.”

She tilted her head back a little and smiled, and he leaned down and took her lips with his, much as he had for the first part of their first kiss in the park last night.  He might have lingered a second longer than necessary before pulling away.

“Are you ready to go?”

Kyoko smiled.  “I just need to tell my sister we’re going.”

“CUT!  It looks like the blocking change worked.  I don’t think we need to do it again.  You guys must be thrilled.  So now we can move on to the part where Hiro meets his lady love.  Sorry Sayuri-chan.”

Ren’s mind wasn’t really on the rest of the scenes that day, but he managed to perform well enough for the director.  Lots of comments about how good his chemistry with the lead actress was were bandied about, but all he could think of was that the night before he’d gone out on his first date with Kyoko.  

**Author's Note:**

> So, Sumire Ave and the Karaage wrap that they eat are actually from Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma by Tsukuda Yuto and was my recent obsession before finding Skip Beat. Also the food always seems really delicious and like stuff that Kyoko would really appreciate so I couldn't help but use it.
> 
> Also I chose to use Japanese for the confession because this sort of thing is just so very Japanese. What they both say basically just translates to "I *really* like you".


End file.
